Walking Through A Storm
by SoldierofZion
Summary: Times come and go just as easily as a storm wind. When all of what you struggled to build threatens to fall apart, who can you turn to? A test of will and understanding among the Titans.
1. Forward or other?

Disclaimer: Just to be absolutely clear, if I owned Teen Titans I would be rich and I wouldn't be writing fanfics, I would be writing scripts and be a story writer for the Titans. Titans Forever!

** Walking Through a Storm**

The rain streamed in thick sheets, soaking Robin to the core. It was over. His once proud form was now gently inclined against the winds that were determined to slow him down. Anyone who had seen this walking loner would have just thought of him as they would have thought of anyone who walked in the rain. They might have taken a brief glance back and wonder, but no word would have been passed and soon it would have been forgotten.

A bolt of light blue lightning forked across the cloudy night sky. In that small moment the rain glowed a brilliant silver.

_Almost like Cyborg's hardware._ Robin thought absently. He stopped a moment and looked down to the gravel at his feet. _Yeah, Cyborg…_

The half machine behemoth was like the older brother. The kind of brother Robin always wanted but was denied. After his parents… He pushed the thought from his head and continued walking through the storm. It didn't matter now. That was the life he planned to put behind him.

He walked for about another ten minutes until he heard something just to his right. He heard a children laugh and squeal as another lightning bolt flashed across the sky, shortly followed by rolling thunder. Their mother called to them from the porch. In answer the children looked to the sky once more and then raced back to the porch. This was exactly the kind of thing he had sworn to defend.

Robin couldn't help but smile. The commonplace scene reminded him of BeastBoy's childlike humor and Starfire's endless naivety and curiosity. The child-like laughter ceased and the door closed. After a moment he continued down the gravel sidewalk. Both were the lighter side of the team. Beasboy, the one to diffuse any argument or fight. The first one to suggest or say something to lift the tension in a bad situation. His jokes were funny, every once in a blue moon. _Well, it's the thought that counts. Right?_

Starfire. The light, the hope, and the joy of the group. The pretty alien had always been the first one to see the silver lining in even the worst situations. Through out Slade, Red X, through The End…

Visions of the world during Trigon's reign played through his mind. Blood red sky, black silhouettes of buildings, stone people. It was hell. Another thing he could say and be among the few people who ever could say it and speak the truth. _I've been through hell and back._ Even though no one could see Or maybe it was because of that, he smirked. He went as far as that to save one of his best friends.

Then his thoughts trailed to Raven, the dark member of the group. Starfire's opposite and the one who saw the truth faster than the rest of them. She was the voice of reason throughout everything. An advisor and councilor. The two of them were alike in a lot of ways. But then again, as a group they were alike. The serious. The humorous. The strong. They were the Titans. _Were._

The lone bird walked further through the falling wind driven rain. He watched as a loose newspaper fragment was carried in his direction. Hoping to find something to drive away his thoughts he caught the drenched piece and glanced at the main heading. **Titans loose devastating battle against new villain. **He released his grip and watched as the storm carried it away and out of his sight. If only he could cast away his memories just as easily. He shifted the bag on his shoulder and continued walking. Further and farther away from something even he didn't have the gall to face.

He heard an explosion echo off of the rock face to his left. On half training and curiosity he turned around. In the distance a flash of light dimmed and died. From the light he saw smoke rising and camouflaging itself in the clouds above. _Another attack._ He turned away. _The Titans can take care of it. _He thought as he forged on. He could only take one more step before he heard another explosion. He stopped and the rain seemed only to fall harder. Pictures flashed across his sight in a slideshow of unwanted memories that someone else controlled. Like a little kid who wanted to see how fast the frozen images could move.

Then it stopped.

Robin cast his gaze to the sky. As if it could somehow divine for him what was to happen next. A lighting bolt sparked through the black clouds. Pointing back to the city. Pointing with the hand of fate.

_Maybe I have time for one more fight..._


	2. Villains and All

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans or any related topics. If I did I would be rich. Very rich. (But I'm not there yet...)

**He returns...**

_It was almost too easy to predict that everything would come to this._ Raven dodged a barrage whistling spheres and caught them in a black energy field for future use. Starfire veered out of the way of a similar sphere and shot it in the back pass. It broke into a valley of sparks and fell to the ground as harmless shards. The cloaked villain became hidden in shadow as something descended hard and fast.

A quick glance up and the villain understood. In a brief flurry of movement, Quicksilver moved to the side and pulled a silver-clear sword seemingly out of nowhere. A green dinosaur shifted out of that form and became something recognizable in this day and age. A rhino hit the ground with a resounding rumble and charged at the silver faced being that was causing so much destruction.

Taking the temporary guise of a matador, the figure spun and sent Beasboy colliding into Cyborg who had tried to run in from behind.

"Surely you can do better," Quicksilver's metallic voice ridiculed as he dodged a neon attack from Starfire. "If indeed you are the Titans I have heard so much about." Just beyond his view something small and dark arched in mid-air and dove into the center of the hood, quickly followed by an explosion that would have knocked an elephant back. He stumbled but regained his balance relatively quickly.

"Consider this a warm up." Raven glanced down the road.

_Oh, so he decided to come back._ The dark empathic suppressed a sneer as she dodged another silver attack. Moving quickly she avoided a series of combined friendly fire and enemy shots to get a clear sight of the scene near the roof of one of the nearby buildings. Starfire, Beastboy, and Cyborg surrounded Quicksilver in a rough triangle. Starfire and Cyborg alternately shot at him while Beastboy hung back and Robin joined the fray. This plan would have worked for any other villain… but from her vantage point there was a flaw. People could miss.

Raven stretched out her senses and "saw" a system of thick pipes beneath the concrete road. Taking a brief second to concentrate she caught the pipes and wrenched them from the ground, catching Quicksilver in something of a makeshift cage. The cage tightened in on the pale robed figure and it would have been impossible for most villains to escape. Most.

Cyborg, Starfire, and Robin opened fire. It looked like that was it. That this would be the end of the fight. But as fate would have it, no. Quicksilver started glowing. He shone a brilliant white and almost blinded all of the team. When the light disappeared, he was gone.

_Perhaps another day, Titans._ The silver voice left a mocking laugh in the heads of all five of them. Each came back into focus as they pieced together what happened. "Quicksilver" got away and Robin was back. Raven lowered to the ground. There were going to be words exchanged and people may or may not want to take them back.

"Hey," Robin managed to say as Cyborg passed him to get into his car. Beastboy similarly ignored him as he tried to help Raven fix the streets as a gorilla. Starfire offered him a sad glance but said nothing as she walked passed him. Beastboy shifted out and back into a human while Raven hovered around the scene, just watching and waiting.

"Well that's a fine 'how do you do.'"

"Don't you have some place to go?" Raven muttered scornfully as she passed.

(A/N) Any critisizms and/or compliments would be highly appreciated. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to ask.


	3. Structures within a Team

Disclaimer: I don't own the Titans nor anything related. Got it?!

_It's not like I expected any gratitude._ Robin walked behind the group. The rain was still falling and if possible it fell harder in the light of recent events. He watched his team file into the T-car and he took shotgun. The entire drive back was in tense silence. Robin tried to start a conversation once but received a quick and blunt answer from Beastboy and no one said anything else. Eventually the car rolled to a stop somewhere in the basement of the Tower. The engine turned off and the team and Robin exited the car. Each left the scene to go about whatever recreational task that they felt like doing at the time. Probably last minute snacks and then good night world. Robin wanted to clear something up though.

"Guys?" The four stopped and turned to face their former leader, each of them sharing a cold and almost uncaring expression. "You understood what I meant earlier, right?" He was met by silence that lasted for a whole agonizingly slow minute. "Right?"

"We understood completely." Raven's expression was completely emotionless but anyone could tell by the feel of the air that she was feeling something, and it wasn't positive. Soon after she turned on her heel and continued down the hall. The other three nodded briefly and followed after her. Robin let them gain distance before even thinking about taking another step.

"_Things have been kind of hard for me lately."_

"_They've been hard for all of us, man." Robin threw a series of attacks at the red punching bag in the gym. It swung back in the momentum but came back around to meet another array of blows. Cyborg sat on a nearby bench by the wall watching his leader beat up the defenseless target. "You've been pushing yourself too hard again. Slow down, take a breather."_

"_I can't, Cyborg."_

"_Yes you can." Robin tried to ignore him as he continued punching the swinging target. "Remember when you took the guise of Red X?" Robin stopped punching. "Yeah, you became so wrapped up in getting to Slade you risked everything else."_

_What Robin said next came out heated and harsher than he meant it to be. "That was a mistake. One I'll ever make again."_

"_That's not exactly what I meant." The bird continued his exercises in some attempt to shut out the common sense. "It was the mindset you were in while you were going through that. We were separated as a team." The red bag swung back in the force of the roundhouse kick that Robin drove into it._

"_That was a mistake." Robin repeated with more force than he delivered in the punch. From the corner of his eye he could just make out Cyborg shaking his head._

"Yeah…" Robin looked up to an empty hall. He followed after. He didn't feel anything really different. Did he even feel anything at all? He watched his shadow grow taller as he left the garage light behind. Maybe… Tomorrow was another day… _Shut up._ He silenced his thoughts and took a beeline to his room and shut the door with a quiet hiss.

Unlike him, the rest of the team went to the common room. They needed to talk.

"So he came back," Beastboy plunked down on the couch and crossed his arms backward over the padded cushions.

"I thought Robin said he was never going to come back."

"He wasn't," Cyborg answered as he sat on the back of the couch. "And I thought I knew the guy."

"We all thought we did." The green shifter set rested his chin on his arms. "I mean, he's Robin."

"Even we can't tell everything he means and doesn't mean." There was a moment of thoughtful silence before anyone said anything else. "Any idea what's gonna happen next?" Beastboy and Starfire shook their heads while Raven didn't seem to react. "Raven?"

She looked to her teammates. "I don't know. He might go back to himself."

"I do hope he goes back to himself."

"So do I, Star." Cyborg found something interesting on the floor to look at. "So do I."

(A/N) What do you people think? I take flames, criticisms, and comments.


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